Emailing an Elected Official
The purpose of this assignment is to learn how to contact one of your elected officials to ask for help with a problem you might have that involves government services. You and your immediate family take advantage of a number of government services. These include government programs like student loans and scholarships, the ability to vote in elections, police and fire services, licenses, and even roads and highways. Often people don't realize that elected officials (or at least the good ones) will often bend over backwards to help constituents with problems they have with government and to answer questions related to government.
A. Look over the readings from Carroll's Take Back Your Government, especially Chapters 3 and 13.
B. Identify a problem you have or may have with one of these services or a question you may have about one.
C. Identify which of your elected officials would be most likely to be able to help with this problem or question. This typically depends on if the program or service in question is offered by a federal, state, or local government. Find the email address of the elected official online.It must be an elected official and not an appointed official.
D. Using the checklists on page 17 and 56 of Carroll, write an email to the person you identified in C to either get your question answered or to ask for help with your problem. Make sure to explain your problem, or to explain why you would like the question you are asking answered. Include contact information for the elected official at the top of the email and list the email address of the elected official on the paper. Make sure to include all the components of an email, including the subject line and proper formal greetings. An example of one of these emails is on page 57 of Carroll, but I expect your email will be more personalized.
The checklist criteria on pages 17 and 56, and the identification of an appropriate elected official, will form the criteria by which the assignment is graded.
If you are not from the U.S., assume you live at your current local address for reasons of determining your elected officials.